he house gives the impression of living in large garden. It gives the inhabitants the sense of doing ordinary tasks such as cooking, reading a book, or taking a bath while walking in the garden.

We propose a long-span housing, which is formed by 5 portal frames slightly shifted. Each frame has several functions, including kitchen, sanitary, dining, working space, and so on. The gaps of the frames are open to provide a view of the exterior/garden. That means that functions have no defining boundary among kitchen, living area, and so on. It is ambiguous space.

The gaps are earthquake-proof in structure and design. It is a very important idea in this site because we don’t put up walls which prevent viewing the garden in the north-south direction. In addition, the exterior wall, which is 125mm thick, gives the strange sense that it’s not an exterior wall but interior.

Photo: Naomi Kurozumi Architectural Photographic Office, Nahoko Koide

ow does a place stimulate the senses?
We propose two spaces in the office as a result of discussion with the client. One space is for individuals who create brilliant and innovative ideas and designs. The other space is kind of like a plaza where workers share, express, and develop those ideas and designs.

We aim for space where workers get together, generating discussion among themselves naturally. To create such a situation, we propose one wall which has several convex and concave openings. It separates individual space and plaza space.

In addition, this plaza space is a place which brings in the peculiar character of Simokitazawa, one of the cultural towns in Tokyo. So it is flexible in function; workers may use it for events or gallery exhibitions.

Photo: Nahoko Koide

his project is a dining restaurant which has only one large table. We try to design for a sense of distance in this restaurant by manipulating the scale of the table.

The concept of this restaurant is to provide the guests chances to communicate with each other. To realize it, we considered the best sense of distance among the guests. We extended the scale of the table a little bit, compared to the typical scale of tables.

The client hopes strongly that the guests come across art, music, and meeting while they enjoy eating dishes that he serves with vegetables. We express this feeling in the word “cultivate” and represent the table design.

Art Direction: Yu shigematsu
Flower Design: AMKK
Graphic Design: Takehiro Kawase
Furniture: Yuri Yamazaki
Copy Writing: Kei Nakamura
Photo: Akiko Kimura, Nahoko Koide

his project focuses on a small osteopathy clinic. This clinic is run by Dr. N and his wife. As clients enter this clinic, they walk into a waiting room with exam rooms behind this area. The practitioner wants patients to enjoy drinking and talking while waiting in the front room. As such, we are concerned by the small space and finding ways for the patients to enjoy this compact space by using their sense of body. We believe that they could use a niche in the wall to house a bench and use the space between the waiting room and the exam rooms as “Engawa”, the corridor with a boarded floor in Japan.

Our design for this room is composed of elements that include some furniture that carefully convey a sense of the human body. We think that this design is a suitable expression of the character of the practitioner and the services offered at the osteopathy clinic.

Graphic Design: musubime
Web Design: Smart Design Association Co., Ltd.
Photo: Nahoko Koide

haring tacit knowledge, expressing it, and fusing it. The creative idea is a result of the process. Therefore, the workplace would require a place where human beings instinctively want to be, in addition to business efficiency.

In the project, we were required to design an office space for the client. Their service is to develop new application software. The members of staff who work in their own space come together in this space, creating new ideas for their product here. We wanted to foster an atmosphere of close friendship, even though each of them sits at their own desk. A wall separates one space into two—one side of it is painted white, the other side is done in black, and it has a large opening through the center of it. The lower edge of the opening meets all of the uniform desks’ heights, 700 mm. We compared it to a bathtub with a depth of 700 mm. We were wondering if it would bring them to mind of soaking in the same bathtub.

Photo: Nahoko Koide

he shop which sells used one-of-a-kind jewelries is located along a back street to the main streets in Ginza, Tokyo. We generally use the design to enhance the willingness to buy in commercial design works. In this project, we used it to regulate the speed of willingness to buy. This means that we created a space where a guest can find their “Favorite Stone” unexpectedly. We proposed that the room should be plied up with some jewelry boxes. The design will give the guest several images such as the world in a picture book, a nostalgic attic, and a space time that had stopped.

Graphic Design, Furniture: Yuri Yamazaki
Photo: Nahoko Koide

he client had two requests. One is that his guests could feel like they were eating in the alley. The other is that his restaurant have a little sense of high luxuriousness. We realized this ambiguous idea by opening and closing the large sliding door made by punched metal. This sliding door creates a different atmosphere. When it is open, the restaurant is connected to the front of the street, kind of like a BAR in Spain. On the other hand, when it is closed, the street walker can faintly see inside behind the door, kind of like luxurious Japanese-style cooking with a rattan blind.

ould we create a place as comfortable as our living room in our town? The client hoped to provide a gelato for their close neighborhood and to introduce Italian food culture. This means that the shop would not only provide a gelato, but also be a place considered as the living room in their town.

We proposed that four cubes be put along the front of the street so that guests can access this shop more easily. The four cubes have large openings. Each one functions as entrance, terrace, and eat-in-space. They are a buffer zone, fostering a good relationship between this shop and the town. They could seamlessly connect to their town through these cubes.

In addition, we made an attempt to strength the identity of this shop. We designed graphics, signs, and furniture synthetically. They were designed based on the key words “living room” and “communication.” We adopted the design vocabulary for the external appearance. You don’t get used to seeing it in this town. We hope the architectural design expresses this leading regional produce project visually.

Graphic Design, Furniture: Yuri Yamazaki
Photo: Nahoko Koide

o you have a richness associated with images of your older life? You might be anxious and have more than a little negative impression about it. The client established the concept that older the inhabitants get, the more richness they get from life, managing to develop nursing care houses to realize this concept.

We served a function to express their business concept as an architectural space concerning with inhabitant’s life directly. At first, we worked on recovering this site. This site is located in the middle of a hillside called “kokubunji-gaisen.” It is a valuable green belt in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. However, a large amount of the green in part of the site was cut to make tennis courts several years ago. According to our research, a series of geographical features such as slope, a thickly wooded area, and water edge are important landscape elements of the “Musashino.” We analyzed it closely, restoring the geographic feature. We created new cliff which is dry area in building basement. It was connected the existing green slope naturally. Spring water drips down it. Our design aimed for diversity in this site. In other words, we designed their environment as “PRESERVATION,” “RESTORATION,” and “REBIRTH.”

We strongly hope that this landscape with its nostalgic elements which inhabitants can view from a sophisticated space might be a gentle companion.

Supervision of cooking: Mitsuro Harada
Landscape Design: TOWNSCAPE Design Institute., Inc.
Photo: Naomi Kurozumi Architectural Photographic Office

his project is a dormitory for unmarried employees in a high-density residential area. We proposed that the building’s wall volume be cut up several facets to reduce a sense of oppression for peripheral residence. We aimed to have harmony with the townscape. We adopted grating made by FRP, letting air and light though the balcony and outside passage way, but maintaining privacy. In other words, we united design with function.

Photo: Kawasumi Architectural Photographic Office